


Ensemble

by static_abyss



Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Background Relationships, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Injuries, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 21:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/static_abyss/pseuds/static_abyss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Accidents in the circus happen fairly often. There's a lot of practising that goes into perfecting a routine, and Duro likes working out with the rest of the crew so he's seen a lot of messed up shit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ensemble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gahika](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gahika/gifts).



> This work was inspired by gahika's awesome graphic, which is number 20 on [this post](http://sparty-reverse.livejournal.com/2788.html). 
> 
> Thanks so much to theswearingkind for being the best beta ever. I would be lost without her. That said, she did her best and any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.

The only thing Duro knows for sure is that one day he's going to walk in on Nasir, Agron, and Castus in bed together, and then Duro will be traumatized for life. It won't be a motorcycle accident that sends him to therapy for years. It will be Nasir, Agron, and Castus fucking in Duro's room. But not now, because they're in costume. So that means, the three of them are too focused on their upcoming routines to be anywhere near each other. Nasir is doing makeup in the circus's shared costume tent, Castus is done with makeup and sitting in Duro and Agron's motor home, and Agron is at the circus tent waiting to go on.

Duro should be with Agron because they're on in an hour, but Duro can't find his helmet. He's in his and Agron's motor home, though it's become more Agron, Castus, and Nasir's motor home since the three of them got their shit together. Duro sleeps in Chadara's car now, or with Pietros when Barca can't sleep and goes out to practice his magic tricks. Barca has a habit of practicing at weird hours because he's big on keeping his magic tricks a secret. Pietros, Duro is sure, is the only one who knows how Barca does the thing where he blows up a balloon, pops it, and gets a dove. But Pietros says it's not his secret to tell, and Barca will never say. Which sucks, but at least Duro has somewhere to sleep when Chadara gets tired of him and kicks him out. 

Duro's home is still technically inside the car parked on the back right of their reserved space. It has three thin steps to get to the door. To the right is the seat for the driver, and to the back left—where Duro is looking, now—is the bed. He and Agron used to share the large bed, or Agron would take the couch in front of their miniature kitchen. They have a small bathroom behind a door next to the couch and across from the dining table in front of a large window. It's the nicest space Duro and Agron have ever had. And Duro doesn't mind how much they travel, because Spartacus gave them a home and he's grateful. Although he can't appreciate the place now, because he has a performance in less than forty-five minutes and he can't find his helmet.

"Fuck," he says, throwing aside Agron's clothes as he looks around the small space surrounding the bed.

Castus is lounging on the couch, a pillow over his lap, and a smirk on his face as he watches Duro destroy the place.

"Oh, you don't want to look through there," Castus says when Duro bends down to pull out Agron's trunk from under the bed. 

"Why not?" Duro asks, pulling the thing out to look under the bed.

"That's where he keeps the lube," Castus says. 

Duro points his middle finger in Castus's general direction even as he digs his helmet out from under the bed. "Fuck you," he says, once he's up again. "Clowns aren't even funny."

Castus just laughs and winks. It should look ridiculous with all the bold makeup colors on Castus's face and the pointless red nose, but it doesn't because Castus is good-looking as fuck. To this day, Duro swears that was why Agron hated Castus so much when they first met. Now, at least, it's just because Castus and the rest of the clowns have a habit of being annoying dicks before a show. It helps them get into character, but ruins everyone's day, particularly Agron and Duro's. Although, Duro suspects that he's the only one left who can't stand the clowns. Agron has a tendency to forgive Castus when they're making out.

"I have to go," Duro says. "Please remember to lock the fucking door later if any of you end up back here together. I can put up with the nakedness, but if I walk in on you three having sex, I swear to fucking god, Castus."

Castus laughs. "Don't crash," he says, waving Duro out the door.

"Lock the door," Duro tells him, but lets Castus push him out.

-

Accidents in the circus happen fairly often. There's a lot of practising that goes into perfecting a routine, and Duro likes working out with the rest of the crew so he's seen a lot of messed up shit. 

Naevia, Crixus and Mira have the most sprains and dislocations. Mostly because of the lifts that Crixus does his best not to miss. But Mira isn't always on time, and sometimes Naevia misses her cue. Then there are the unbelievable stretches, and _jesus fuck_ , Duro didn't know people could actually bend that way. And there's that move—the one where Mira and Naevia hold their hands out and Crixus just balances on top with one hand, straight up in the air as though gravity isn't a thing that exists. It's very impressive because looking at Crixus, no one would think he was that flexible, but he is. Extremely so. 

Duro respects all the work Mira, Naevia, and Crixus put into making their dances seem effortless. It makes sense that there should be some accidents, although Duro doesn't think he's ever seen any of them just resting, so the sprains and dislocations might be a myth. 

After the gymnasts, it's Chadara, whose routine is a mixture of gymnastics and contortion except with dogs involved. She's Duro's favorite person because Chadara has a way of speaking to people so that they listen to her. It's the same with the dogs she trains, one word and they're spinning the way she wants them to. It's all a little bit magical, and Duro's spent a lot of time just watching Chadara. But most of the time she's also doing stretches and twists that make Duro cringe, and he's had to help her lie down on the floor when she accidentally stretches too much. She's never not practicing either, and Duro is a bit in love with her—with all their gymnasts, really, because they all look amazing doing anything.

Nasir does the most amazing shit with fire, and Duro's still not sure how Nasir hasn't burned down the circus tent. But then Nasir's clothes are the one they have replace most often, so it's not without it's risks. Watching Nasir though, Duro thinks there's nothing that could ever go wrong. Once Nasir lights something on fire, he never drops it, doesn't even stumble under the weight of the thick wooden poles he has to carry.

It's oddly mesmerizing watching a fire show with Nasir. The fire itself is captivating, flickering flames that bend in whatever way Nasir wants them to. When the lights go out in Nasir's practice area, or even in the circus tent, there's something in the air that Duro hasn't learned the name of. It's a heavy presence in his chest, enhanced by the music Spartacus and Nasir pick out together, something that roots Duro to his spot. He could watch the flames around Nasir for days, entranced by the idea that one misstep will make everything go to shit. Fire is dangerous, and Nasir does a beautiful job of showing that in every routine. 

-

"What do you mean you don't want to wear a shirt?" Duro hears Spartacus ask Nasir, as Duro makes his way towards where Agron is waiting inside the circus tent.

By the time Duro gets to Agron, there are thirty minutes until Duro and Agron have to go on. Pietros is on, so Duro tunes out Spartacus and Nasir to focus on that. 

Pietros helps Barca with his magic tricks, but sometimes Pietros will ask for a spot in the usual performances and Spartacus gives it to him. Duro likes Pietros's routine, mostly because he's still fascinated with the way Pietros can make his pigeons—doves, Pietros has corrected hundreds of times—listen to him. Pietros will dance his way across the stage, lift a hand, and suddenly have three pigeons on his arm. Duro has seen this routine hundreds of times, but everything is so much better once the spotlight focuses and the music starts. 

"I'm tired of burned clothes," Nasir says, loud enough to snap Duro's attention away from the feathers pinned to Pietros's hair.

"Please wear a shirt," Duro says. "I don't need Agron more distracted than he already is."

"Shut up," Agron says. "But Duro's right. Clothes are safer."

There are twenty-five minutes until Duro and Agron go on when Pietros finishes his performance. Agron is with Nasir, heads bent, talking too low for Duro to hear. Castus walks in a minute later, and Spartacus leaves them to their discussion. 

There's a roar from the crowd as Spartacus steps onto the main area to engage the crowd, so that the technicians can set up for Agron and Duro's performance. When the noise from the audience dies down, Duro can hear the beginnings of exasperation in Agron's voice. He turns around and glares at Castus, Nasir, and Agron.

"Fight later," Duro tells the three of them, but his gaze is focused on Agron. "We're on soon."

Agron just rolls his eyes, but moves over to stand next to Duro.

-

Barca has the safest routine, and the most he's ever suffered are papercuts or sprained fingers because he wasn't fast enough when trying out a new magic trick. Barca is also intimidating as fuck, and although he's generally good natured, Duro still won't make fun of him the way he makes fun of all the others. There's a different kind of respect there, and Barca seems to be okay with it so Duro's not looking to change it.

The fact that Barca refuses to tell Duro how he gets a dove out of a balloon also has something to do with it. Duro usually leaves everyone alone when they practice, but magicians were always his favorite as a boy, and now he has one to tell him all the secrets. Except Barca won't, and Duro feels like he's going to explode from not knowing every time Barca pulls a rabbit out of a hat that was empty last time Duro saw it.

"It'll ruin the magic," Barca has said more than once.

But fuck that, Duro just needs to _know_.

-

"What I want to know," Duro says, when Castus walks over to stand on Agron's other side, "Is why we still have clowns in circuses? They're pointless."

"They're classic, dumbass," Agron answers.

There are twenty-three minutes until Agron and Duro go onstage.

"Why?" Duro asks, looking for Nasir over his shoulder.

Nasir is gone, but no one seems angrier or more annoying than usual so Duro assumes the talk went well. But Duro also knows Nasir, and he knows that Nasir is going to wear the shirt now, but the argument isn't over. It's not a fashion thing, Duro knows, but a genuine concern about comfort and how much movement the clothes allow Nasir. It's also not something to decide lightly because as trivial as taking a shirt off is, there are a lot of things to consider. There's a greater risk of burns without the protection the clothes give. It also means changes for all the people who take part in group performances with Nasir, and their opinions have to be taken into account. Plus there's the vulnerability that comes with baring one's body to the scrutiny of strangers. Although if Duro can up with these on the spot, then that means Nasir's already gone through every scenario twice. 

"Stop thinking so loud," Agron says, throwing an arm around Duro.

"Shut up," Duro says.

Agron knocks his head against the side of Duro's, and Castus nods in Duro's direction before he steps aside to give them privacy. 

"What?" Duro asks, when Castus is out of earshot.

There are eighteen minutes to go before Agron and Duro start their routine. 

"You're worried," Agron says.

Duro shakes his head and tightens his grip on his helmet. The Kevlar suit Duro has on is comforting in its familiarity, and the sound their clothing makes when Agron nudges Duro's shoulder is usually enough to calm Duro down. It's not as though Duro hasn't ridden his motorcycle in a confined space with Agron before. It's just that ever since this morning, Duro's been feeling off. He's not concentrating enough, keeps letting his thoughts stray to what the others are doing. He's picking on Castus more than usual, more than he has since Agron decided to date Castus _and_ Nasir. 

Duro feels wrong, is acting weird. 

"Is it because we're back home?" Agron asks.

Duro doesn't answer because in all honesty, he doesn't know. They're not even technically back in the city they were born in, but it's close enough that if Duro wanted, he could go visit his parents' graves.

"I'm okay," Duro says.

He is. He'd had the hardest time getting over their parents' deaths when it happened, but Duro knows better than to think it was because he felt it more. It was just that Agron was the oldest, so Agron was the one who arranged everything. He made sure Duro had a place to sleep, something to eat, and someone's shoulder to cry into. At the time, Duro hadn't really known how much everything Agron did was costing him, but he knew better now. It's why Duro tries his best not to worry Agron. It's why he lets Agron take over their motor home even though Duro's clothes are still in there. 

"What's wrong?" Agron asks, because of course he doesn't believe Duro.

"I feel off," Duro says, shrugging. "It'll go away once we get in the hamster ball."

"If you let Crixus catch you calling the damn thing a hamster ball, I am going to kill you," Agron tells him.

Duro rolls his eyes.

There are ten minutes before they're supposed to go on.

-

Saxa and Gannicus wear the most annoying costumes. There is glitter everywhere whenever the two of them come even remotely near. It's why Duro would never think of sleeping in Gannicus's trailer even though Gannicus doesn't technically share with anyone. That, and also because Saxa has a habit of having too-loud sex with Gannicus. Although Duro probably wouldn't mind the sex, because Saxa and Gannicus would never say no to a threesome. So it's not the sex. It's the glitter.

Duro respects what Gannicus and Saxa do, because being an acrobat is the hardest shit Duro has ever attempted to do. He tried once, back when Agron suggested they join Sparatacus's circus. Duro thought, in his inexperience, that it would be easy to learn how to swing from one end of a platform to another. 

"Just like the monkey bars at the playground," he'd told Agron.

Agron hadn't bothered to correct him, and one week of training had been enough for Duro to know that he wasn't ever going to be an acrobat. Hanging hundreds of feet above the air and swinging from one end of a tiny platform to another is the most amazing shit Duro has ever seen. Not to mention the way Saxa just drops and hopes to fucking god that Gannicus is ready to catch her. The amount of trust in that--and not just them, but in every act that requires a partner--is phenomenal.

Everyone is good at what they do because they work for it, because they trust each other. Duro is never again going to take anything anyone does at the circus lightly. It's not the way things work, and it's why whenever someone new comes along it takes a while for them to get accepted. It's why Castus and his crew had a hard time fitting in when Spartacus decided he wanted clowns in their circus. But once a person is in, they're in forever. And Duro likes it because it's family, and he had very little of that before he and Agron found Spartacus and the others.

-

Duro hears their voices through the thick fog in his head. 

He picks out Saxa's voice from the rest of the group. "Fucking dick. You better not be dead," she says.

There are murmurs, words too low or loud for Duro to be able to pick out. The back of his head feels like it's on fire. His back aches and his body is limp against the pain that's running through him. Duro wants to say something, but it hurts to breathe and he doesn't understand where he is or what happened.

"Duro," Agron says, his voice low and worried. "Fucking asshole, wake up."

"Don't move him," Mira says. "We shouldn't have even moved him from where he fell."

"We had to," Nasir tells her. "There were too many people watching."

"Shit," Agron whispers. "You don't think we fucked up his back, do you?"

Duro opens his mouth to tell them that he's okay, but it hurts to breathe. He can feel his body curling inwards, and he does his best to turn on his side. He can't move, but it's not because anything's broken. 

"I'm fine," he finally manages to gasp out. 

"Fucking hell," Agron breathes out. 

Duro opens his eyes to the string of lights hanging on the sides of the tent. They're in the back area of the circus tent, where they do makeup and sit around until it's their turn to go on. Duro is lying on the floor on top of someone's jacket. Agron is sitting on Duro's left, with his head buried in his hands. Nasir is there too, hands rubbing soothing circles on Agron's shoulders.

"Where's Castus?" Duro asks.

"Doing his show," Chadara says, moving away from Mira and coming to sit by Duro's feet. "Do you think you can sit up?"

Duro nods and goes onto his elbows. His back feels like he's overstretching it, but there's less pain now. When he's sitting, Duro realizes that he doesn't have his helmet on and he's sitting on Gannicus's jacket.

"Fuck you," he tells Gannicus. "You know I hate your fucking jacket and all the fucking glitter."

"You were dying," Gannicus says. "Sorry I couldn't find a fucking feather bed for you."

"If I'd died," Duro says, glaring at Gannicus. "I would have ended up buried with glitter all over my ass. That's not what I want."

"You'd have no choice if you were dead," Gannicus shoots back.

Duro opens his mouth to say something back, but Agron's snarl stops him.

"Shut the fuck up," Agron says, voice low but angry enough that everyone shuts up. 

Duro can see the vein at the side of Agron's neck working away. It hits him then how worried Agron must have been, how this is a joke now because nothing happened. But it could have been worse and Agron knows that, because Agron gets in the same cage as Duro. They both know that one mistake and one of them could run the other over, and it's something they never forget. Not even when everything goes perfectly.

Everything does go well for the most part. This is the first time Duro's been injured in a show, and even if it's a little worse than these kinds of accidents usually are, he's not hurt. Duro knows Agron just needs to reassure himself that Duro's all right, so Duro and the others let him sit there in silence.

"I'm fine," Duro says after a while.

"You didn't put your helmet on properly," Agron answers.

Duro is distracted by the screaming crowd and by Gannicus and Saxa getting up. Nasir leans over to help Duro off Gannicus's jacket, and Duro takes the chance to get up. He stretches and nothing hurts, so he does it again.

"We'll be back," Saxa tells him, as she watches him. Her eyes flit over to Agron for a second, and she nods in Agron's direction. 

Duro gives her a small nod, and she and Gannicus leave. A moment later there's a round of applause from the crowd, and then Castus is coming back in. 

"Oh god," Duro groans, as Castus tosses a bouquet of fake flowers at him. 

Castus laughs. "Are you okay?" he asks, and Duro nods.

Agron is still not saying anything, and Duro watches as Castus walks over to where Nasir is still patting Agron's back. Castus bends down to say something in Agron's ear, and then the three of them start whispering at each other. Eventually, Agron stands up, looks around the room and says, "I need to talk to Duro."

"Yes, of course," Nasir says, glancing around the room. "We'll be right back."

No one moves until Nasir very pointedly takes Castus's hands and they start walking out of the tent. 

"Oh," Chadara says, even as the rest of them start moving. "Right, we'll _all_ be right back.

Agron rolls his eyes, but doesn't say anything as everyone leaves. He turns back to Duro when it's just the two of them. 

"My helmet was on right," Duro says, before Agron can say anything.

"I know," Agron says. "Just," he pauses to run a hand through his short hair. "Just fucking be careful, okay?"

"I will," Duro promises.

Agron looks at him, his green eyes running over Duro's face. He nods once and pulls Duro into a quick hug. 

-

As a circus, they have very few public accidents. As a family, someone is always spraining something, though no one has broken anything so far. 

Mira is the best at handling injuries. She's so good that one time she went around with a dislocated wrist for a week before Spartacus found out and took her to the hospital to have it set. Chadara watches her now. Chadara worries more than she should, and she and Mira have arguments that end in awkward silence that lasts weeks. Duro is terrible at awkward silences. He and Castus always end up filling the empty spaces, loud and charming as fuck because Duro says so. But it eases the tension between Mira and Chadara, and they never stay angry at each other for too long.

When Castus gets hurt, Duro laughs until his sides hurt because, _clowns_ , but everyone generally loves Castus so there's always someone to help him out until Duro can. Duro rarely gets hurt, but when he does, when any of them get hurt, there's always someone there. And eventually all of them are there, genuinely concerned and trying to make things better. They're a family and Duro appreciates that, loves them so much it's ridiculous. 

They're codependent as fuck, but Duro honestly hopes that when they retire, they'll all just end up parking their motor homes in the same general area and living there. And if that doesn't happen, then at least he knows he'll always have a place to sleep in on any one of their couches.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to the mods for running this challenges. Thank you so much for letting me do ALL THE THINGS.


End file.
